With The Beatles recently hitting number one with the new single Now And Then, The Bootleg Beatles have also got the delicious prospect of seven years of consecutive 60th anniversary celebrations ahead of them as they look back on the Fab Four’s fab output through the 1960s.
Plus right now, they are on one of their favourite tours of the year taking them through until Christmas including a date at the Brighton Centre on Sunday, December 17.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Now, what
00:05 a pleasure this morning to be speaking to Paul McCartney, well, very, very nearly, the
00:10 bootleg Beatles, Steve White. Now, what a time. You're playing Brighton very soon, coming
00:15 to Brighton Centre in the middle of December, but what a time to be involved with anything
00:19 Beatles-ish. And the fascinating thing is, you've had to learn the new single, haven't
00:24 you?
00:25 The new single, I mean, who would have thought? 2023, good grief. Yes, we've had to learn
00:31 the new single and it's been amazing to actually, you know, it's not like learning a new song,
00:42 let's say, that you've never done before. You're actually learning a brand new song
00:46 that no one has really heard and no one's really played.
00:51 And the fabulous thing for you is it's a song that underlines just how brilliant a bass
00:55 player Paul McCartney is, doesn't it?
00:58 Absolutely. Yes, I have to say that whilst the bass track within the actual recording
01:04 is quite sort of hidden within the mix, when you delve into it and find out what Paul's
01:12 doing, it's just incredible. You know, his zest for bass playing hasn't faltered in all
01:20 these years, you know, he was quite experimentalist in the early days and nothing's changed. It's
01:27 very flamboyant and all over.
01:29 Well, he's been playing interesting stuff with the Rolling Stones just recently on the
01:32 new album, hasn't he?
01:33 He certainly has, yeah, yeah. It's kind of like a fuzz bass or something.
01:36 That's right, yeah, yeah. But the point is, whatever Paul does, I mean, it's slightly
01:41 more remarkable that you do it too, given that you are not naturally left-handed, are
01:45 you?
01:46 No, I'm not. No, I'm a naturally right-handed guitar player.
01:49 So how on earth do you learn to play left-handed? It sounds like an absolute impossibility.
01:55 Yeah, a lot of perseverance. Yeah, I just, I had to learn. It's kind of a long story
02:03 as to why I sort of...
02:04 Well, you had to look right, didn't you?
02:07 Yeah, yeah. Of course, the Beatles...
02:08 It's the shape of the Beatles, isn't it?
02:10 Basically, it's the shape. The Beatles make a shape and unless that bass is going the
02:14 other way, and you can have the suits and the instruments and the boots and all that
02:20 stuff that you can just buy off a shelf. But if you don't have that bass going the opposite
02:25 way, it just looks all wrong. So I had to learn. And I remember being so excited at
02:34 the prospect of trying to take on this feat. And I borrowed a guitar, strung it left-handed,
02:41 and that's where it just all fell to pieces. I couldn't hold a plectrum in the opposite
02:46 hand. I couldn't get the strap over my head. I couldn't. I just, it was like beginning
02:51 again. It like my hands just turned to feet and they just wouldn't work. They wouldn't
02:56 talk together. You know, I was plucking one string and fretting the other string and it
03:01 was all over the place. It was horrendous. And it took me, it took me three months of
03:05 real sort of dedication and blisters, sore fingers.
03:11 - Can it ever seem natural?
03:15 - It does now, but it didn't then. I mean, gosh, you know, I was very, very crude and
03:19 basic after the three months. But I kept, I kept doing, trying to do things left-handed.
03:24 So, you know, I'd try and make a sandwich and cut the bread with my left hand and stir
03:29 a cup of tea with the left hand, you know, to try and gain control of this hand. Because
03:34 as you know, you know, when you're, you're lesser dominant hand, it might as well belong
03:37 to somebody else. So, so I kept doing that, persevered. And then of course, you know,
03:44 many years down the line, it never feels quite natural. It always feels much more natural
03:52 playing right-handed as it does left-handed. And the way I would describe that is when
03:57 I'm playing left-handed, it's like lacing up your work boots. And then when I pick a
04:04 guitar right-handed, it's like putting your slippers on. So, you know, it's a lot more
04:10 comfortable. So that's the way I would describe it.
04:13 - And you've got a lovely run of gigs coming up as we head towards Christmas. And this
04:16 is just off the back of a tour to Australia. And we were saying this, there's probably
04:20 nowhere really that The Beatles didn't actually conquer and aren't still conquering, are they?
04:25 - No, absolutely. I mean, yeah, we're literally sort of three days back from Australia. So
04:30 we're all a little bit, little bit jet lagged and jaded and stuff, but you know, a couple
04:35 of days rest and then we'll be, we'll be hitting the ground running, you know, and yeah, we
04:40 can't wait. And this is, to be fair, the December tour is our, it's our favorite tour. You know,
04:48 spirits are so high because of the time of year and everyone's in a festive mood. And
04:53 that just really kind of spurs everything on. You know, we get a real buzz from that
04:57 when the crowd are on fire, we're on fire, you know, so.
05:01 - And you're in a lovely run of things at the moment, aren't you? Because as we're saying,
05:04 for the next seven years, you've got a 60th anniversary every year, haven't you, for The
05:08 Beatles?
05:09 - Absolutely, yeah. So every, every, every other, well, every year we have another 60th
05:14 anniversary of the next album in line. So, I mean, this last year we did, we did a big
05:21 nod to the Please Please Me album. So this year there's a, you know, there's a, there's
05:25 a sizable nod to, with The Beatles without giving too much away.
05:29 - You know, ticking them off one by one. Five Starways doing the whole journey anyway.
05:34 - Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, that's, that's what we're trying to do, you know, and I'm
05:38 sure, I'm sure there's, there's fans out there that, you know, they have their iconic album
05:43 that they love, you know. I mean, me, myself, I'd find it very difficult to choose between
05:49 any of them, but I know, you know, people prefer, oh, I prefer Revolver, or I prefer
05:55 Elvis Presley, or Sgt Pepper for me, or The Abbey Road, you know. But for me, it's, they're
06:00 all the same. So hopefully, you know, there's fans that come to the show that have a massive
06:06 loving for, with The Beatles. They'll, they'll get the biggest kick, I would imagine.
06:11 - Fantastic. Well, congratulations on mastering the new single, and good luck on that winter
06:16 tour. Really lovely to speak to you, Steve. Thank you ever so much. Really appreciate
06:20 it.
06:21 - My pleasure. Lovely chatting with you.
06:22 - Thank you.
06:23 - Thank you.
06:23 Thank you.